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We went out to North Stradbroke Island, which is directly east of Brisbane, about a 45 minute ferry ride from the coast, which is about an hour drive from where I live.

In the photos you can see who was there, Bec A, Bec M, Carol, Tim and myself. We squeezed all our stuff into Carol’s car and walked on to the ferry so it was cheaper! 🙂 Then on the other side we shuttled back and forth to the campsite.

It was so good to get away, and get out there. The weather was perfect and the place more so. I bought some fishing gear, hoping to toss it in the water. I had so much fun doing it, and am really glad I did. We had some minor success as you can see in the photos. We ended up eating a little of our haul that night.

Also on the trip, we went to two lakes on the island, creatively named Brown Lake, and Blue Lake. They both lived up to their names. The water was warm enough to get in and stay in, and we ended up swimming all the way across Brown Lake and back, which was probably 1 km across. Blue Lake was at the end of a 1 hour bush walk. When we arrived we were able to surprise a middle aged couple of skinny dippers.

Tim had to go back earlier than the rest of us, so we stayed another day after dropping him off at the ferry. We ended up just relaxing, swimming and had a fire on the beach at night. Coming home was tough, after a few days away from all the realities of life, it was quite a downer to get home. I think that just speaks to how great it was to have gone.

As I sat there on the beach, looking out to the vast Pacific expanse before me, I wondered how I was so lucky as to be there. At 4:45 am, the tide was coming in. I was awake, and sitting there in my sleeping bag, watching the water come closer and closer.

Then I noticed something strange in the sand. When a wave would run up onto the sand, and would touch new sand, there would sometimes be a little yellow-green glow that lit up in the sand as the water pulled away, just at the edge. I don’ t know what it was, or if it was a real or not, but it looked pretty cool. I loved it out there.

Headed out to Stradbroke Island for a few days to camp, fish the beach and chill. It should be really good and I’m looking forward to it. Last time I went out to this island I got insanely sunburned. Hopefully that won’t happen again.
Dave

Samuel Xavier Kemp, my nephew in Vancouver is three years old today. (March 20 in Canada) I had a chat with him and he proudly told me he was three years old, even though he’s been saying he was three for quite some time now. He went to the Green Store and had some cake, and got to go to the Aquarium.

I love that guy so much. So sad I couldn’t be there!

I’m happy that at least we can catch up on the phone. I miss all of you at home. Hope you’re doing well. I am getting over the sickness already.

My sister and her husband had a baby today (March 13 North America time). I’m so excited about him. He is my third nephew, and Jenn and James’s first baby. Born early in the morning, he is a happy and welcome blessing. I can’t wait to meet him. I have seen a few photos and he looks great. My prayers are with you three!

Looking back over the last few months, and all that has happened, the music I have listened to kinda captures a lot of what was going on. Does the mood make the music or vice versa? Anyways, here’s a tour backwards through time.

This year we are seeing a lot more actual patients. It is really interesting, and when you see, touch, smell and talk to a person with a condition, it seems to be much more memorable.

I thought I would just take a few notes of when I see these patients, to help me remember, and to plot my development in understanding the massive field of medicine.

Some of the conditions I have seen this year include atopic dermatitis, bullous pemphigoid, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia-1, Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris and mycosis fungoides. You may or not be able to tell from that list that my clinical coach for this block is a dermatologist. We have put much effort into elucidating the subtleties in the differential diagnosis for erythroderma.

This past week we saw a patient with Hidradenitis Suppurativa. This is such a horrible disease of the skin in which it is so badly chronically inflamed by a form of acne that over time, scars, tracts and comedoes form such a disfiguration of the skin that it looks like someone had recovered from massive burns. Often the skin remains ulcerated and open. The chronic inflammation often precedes development of cancer. This patient was 43 but it looked like he was in his 60s. It is so severe it destroyed his life.

I won’t be able to forget that for quite some time. Hopefully I never will. If I do, I can maybe look back at this to remember.

Since you can’t just come visit me every year, I wanted to let you all see where I’m living now. It has been good to find a place that works for me and be grounded again.

The place is kinda like a townhouse, with a parking garage below, and walk up doors to 6 units, I am unit 5. I am living with a guy named John, who is originally from New Zealand, and has lived in Tasmania and New South Wales for the last few years. Our bedrooms are on the first floor, and the living room/kitchen is upstairs.

It’s nice to have air conditioning and a big open kitchen. The gas range is something I really love too, and one of the little things I missed from my old house.

Without much more ado, I’ll let you see it for yourself. Just follow the link for a video.